Luckily, I didn't have any dreams of sunken souffles or solid chocolate fondants last night. But I was very nervous this morning! Joe told us what we would be doing in the day. We had to produce some kind of risotto for lunch at 12.30pm, a flavoured bread to serve any time, squid for the starter at 2pm, pork tenderloin for the main course at 3.30pm and a pudding where chocolate is the main ingredient at 4pm. So it was James, Jess, Rachel, Emily and I in the kitchen, cooking for the others, Joe and Matt, who was doing the wine-tasting. We had until 11 to look through cookery books and our notes to devise a menu and get inspired. I was the last into the kitchen with ten minutes to spare. I was panicking already about what to do and when. I simply didn't have time to devise a time plan, so I went with the flow and tried to think logically. Last night I had been thinking of trios of chocolate puddings, but I decided to do a white chocolate parfait instead. I knew I wouldn't have time to do three separate elements well in the time provided, so I went with doing one thing really well. I'd also never done a parfait (a mousse which is then frozen, kind of like an unchurned ice cream) before and as Joe had told us to get out of our comfort zones and to do something different than we normally do, I chose to do a white chocolate one. I didn't have a recipe for a white chocolate parfait, but had one for a vanilla one and adapted it. I had to get the parfait done first, to give it enough time to set in the freezer. I also had to do the bread, or it wouldn't have enough time to rise and then prove. I also had to make the risotto- all in an hour and a half!
I chose to make a herby clay plantpot bread, using the recipe of the garlic and oregano bread, but leaving out the garlic as I would prefer it without. Unfortunately, the plant pots were up the road in the new cookery school, so I improvised and just shaped the rolls nicely. I would have done a new flavoured bread that I hadn't done before, but I was already experimenting with other recipes, so I didn't want to give myself too much to do and other things that could go wrong. I tasted some of the left over bread and it was pretty good. Rosemary, sage and thyme bread rolls. Mmm mmm.
You wouldn't think that making a bread dough and leaving the yeast to do the work and making a parfait would take up a lot of time, but it does. Especially when you don't have all of your ingredients already weighed out and ready to go! And no work partner to help you tidy up after yourselves. So, all of this resulted in my risotto being a little more al dente than I would have liked. I kept it simple and made a saffron and tomato risotto. My hands were actually shaking when I was peeling the tomatoes. When you watch cookery programmes, such as MasterChef and you see people shaking and think 'oh, I would never shake and be that nervous', but believe me, under the stress and pressure of it all, you really do shake! I was so rushed that I forgot to add my freshly chopped herbs into the mix, so had to sprinkle them on top instead. Bugger! But it tasted good. Just a little...chewy!
After the initial panic and rush to get the risotto out on time, which mine was (ish), the atmosphere in the kitchen relaxed a bit as we prepared for the starter. Joe showed us how to clean a squid. Apparently they're about 80p each- a bargain really! I chose to make calamari with a sweet chilli jam. I tried to follow a Jamie Oliver recipe for the sweet chilli jam and it turned out alright, but I realise in hindsight that I forgot to season it before serving. Whoops! I'm sure it will have been picked up on in our group feedback session tomorrow afternoon after the other half of the group have cooked. I also made an error in the jam, mistaking one ingredient for another. Normally I would never do that, but pressure and stress makes you so silly things! I won't tell you what I did as I'm rather embarrassed about it. I just call it my surprise chilli jam! I'd never cooked quid before, so I made up a tempura batter and deep fried the squid rings and served them with some salad and the jam. I was happy with the calamari, but I would have liked the jam to be more of a dipping consistency. But it tasted alright. The calamari that I tried was tasty though.
The pork was next. I didn't follow a recipe for this dish. I just made it up as I went along. I treated the pork tenderloin like a fillet steak- not overcooking it as it's very lean and there's no fat in it to keep it moist. I sealed it and then finished it off in the oven with a knob of butter and a sprig of thyme. I made a potato rosti to go with it, glazed carrot, green beans and a reduced thyme, sage and red wine jus. I thought that my pork was overcooked as when I temperature probed the meat, it was 85 degrees, when it was meant to be 65! But then when I carved it for serving, it turned out to be pink in the middle. I must have stuck the prob into a part close to the outside of the meat. Phew! I was proud of my jus though. Rather yummy, if I do say so myself!
Roasted pork tenderloin with potato rosti, glazed carrots, green beans and a reduced red wine, thyme and sage jus
Finally, with half an hour to go until freedom, it was pudding time. My favourite section of the culinary world. I was extremely pleased because my parfait had set. Success! I also piped out some chocolate run outs, including the work 'enjoy' to go on the top of the parfait. I made a chocolate orange sauce to go with the pudding, but unfortunately it set a bit on the cold plate when I was putting it together. That's why it looks a bit messy. I would have done a raspberry coulis, but we only had about 8 raspberries each. Not enough for a satisfactory amount of coulis. I soaked the raspberries and orange segments in some orange juice and cointreau and made an orange cream to help the raspberries stick to the plate. The kitchen was so hot that unfortunately, my parfait had started to melt! I tried some of the pudding as I had made back-ups in case I mucked it up and it was delicious. Very smooth indeed.
White chocolate parfait with chocolate orange sauce, raspberries
and oranges
This was some of Emily's left over chocolate mousse which was piped to resemble dog poo, especially for Margaret. Joe even added some authentic blades of grass. I tried some before, and it tasted lovely. I hasten to add that I didn't try it from the plate above with the grass. We don't get our feedback from today until tomorrow, after everyone has cooked, so you'll have to wait to see what everyone else said about my food. The food tasters said that everyone's food was all very good and nothing was inedible. Brilliant! Tough day. I'm glad it's all over. I would do it again, but not straight away. I didn't have a break all day, apart from two minutes to have a speed wee. Any breaks meant less time cooking! At the end of the day, it was time to clear up the kitchen that looked like a bomb had hit it. Joe even said that 'Saddam Hussein had officially regenerated and brought World War 3 into the kitchen!'
I'm looking forward to wine tasting tomorrow, whilst everyone else sweats away in the kitchen, hopefully not in the food, bringing plate after plate of food out for us to consume. I also don't have to drive tomorrow, as some of my relatives have kindly offered to give me lifts to and from school. Fantastic! Can't. Wait.
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